There has been a lot of concern recently that we will be entering World War III, and I think that is genuine. I would like to point out, however, that maybe things aren’t quite as bad as they seem. It’s important to remember that news sources, while usually reputable, make more money by making it seem like the world is ending every day.
Sources like CNN, Fox, MSNBC and so on get the most views by making it seem like everything is collapsing. Anyone that has watched cable, 24-hour news knows first-hand that the world has been imploding for around 20 years or so.
For example, CNN’s news featured a piece about Russian bombers near Alaska on Tuesday, April 18th. But if you look closer, you find that it was a typical situation. It last happened in 2015, and back then it was nothing more than a test.
Things are very tense, but manageable. The strikes in Syria, for example, were widely regarded as the right thing to do. President Trump, who got into office saying that he would get us out of Syria’s business, realized that something had to be done when they were gassing their own civilians.
Why he chooses to try and prevent innocent people from finding refuge in America is confusing (to say the least), but his missile strike was actually one of the better maneuvers that America has pulled in the last two months.
During that strike, America made sure to give warning to Russia, reminding them that we weren’t trying to hurt them, but trying to punish Asaad and damage the source of the chemical attacks.
Sure Russia was mad, but this isn’t the first time this has ever happened. President Clinton in 1998 pulled the same maneuver with around 80 missiles. Even Obama wanted to, but without backing from congress, decided against it.
As for sending ships to North Korea, Obama was pulling similar stunts before he left as well. Before he left office, Obama allowed the flight of several supersonic bombers to along North Korean airspace to remind them that they should reconsider their behavior.
Admittedly, we should still be far more careful than we’ve been so far.
There are some things that we have to tone back. We cannot continue to bomb civilians as we have been. If we want to fight a war, we have to do it far more carefully than killing hundreds of civilians every time we operate. That method is absolutely unacceptable. Along with only creating more reasons for people to hate the United States (and become terrorists), killing civilians is terrible.
Perhaps President Trump could reconsider his position on allowing people into the country. Instead of using forceful retaliations after civilians are attacked (even though we are often killing civilians ourselves), he could offer refuge.  Anything that can help bring tensions back down would be very helpful.
Along with that, he should reconsider taking some money out of our military budget. It’s already far too big, exponentially larger than nearly every other country.
Trump needs to remember that it is not about just winning these stare-downs at any cost. Whenever they get careless, lots of people die.
So yes, we have probably entered another cold war. But that doesn’t mean that everything is going to collapse. And watching the news every single day waiting for the bomb to drop is not going to help you feel better.
Remember that deaths from war in the last few decades have been lower than they have ever been in history, and countries right now are simply “flexing” more than they are fighting.
While you watch the news, stay critical, and remember that news makes money from fear.